IAN Jones and Levens Choir return to the concert stage during the next couple of weeks with two potential roof-raising performances.

Come Saturday (April 22, 7.30pm), the choristers will be on song at Kendal's St Thomas’s Church with a terrific programme of works by a varied group of composers. Under the baton of Ian, the main work will be an astonishing setting by the young George Frederick Handel of Psalm 110: Dixit Dominus, composed in 1707. String orchestra, soloists and chorus are all given fast passages and dramatic harmonies to negotiate. The exquisite voices of two of the region's leading soloists, Emily Robinson and Kate Noble, join the tuneful throng; the orchestra will be led by the popular and inspirational Roland Fudge.

In contrast, the choir sings three much more recent works - the Missa Brevis by James Macmillan, a deeply felt affirmation of the composer’s faith; the Agnus Dei by Samuel Barber for which the composer used the music of his passionate Adagio for strings; and Daemon Irrepit Callidus by the Hungarian Gyorgy Orban, a vigorous, chromatic and jazzy setting of a poem apparently rejecting the temptations of the Devil. Two solos from soprano Emily and mezzo-soprano Kate complete the programme.

The choir - which won the Cumbria Life Choir of the Year 2017 award at the recent Cumbria Life cultural awards evening at Keswick's Theatre by the Lake - repeats the impressive and varied programme at Lancaster Priory on Saturday, April 29 (7.30pm).

Tickets for the Kendal concert are available on 01539-730590; for the Lancaster performance contact Lancaster Visitor Information Centre on 01524-582394 and Morecambe Visitor Centre on 01524-582808.